New HSC Spawns New VET: True or False?

AVETRA Conference April 2012

Paul RodneyUniversity of Melbourne

What was ‘promised’ for VET in the NEW HSC?• Rigorous• High quality• Coherent• Relevant• Subject integrity• Integrated pattern of senior studies• Recognition:

– In national Qualifications– By Employers– For University entry– By post-school VET providers

• Non ‘streaming’ explicitly or implicitly, within school or post school• Determined Work Placement• Opportunity to combine HSC study with apprenticeships and traineeships• More coherent and comprehensive curriculum packages• A consistent framework for each industry area• Expanded range of vocational courses resulting in a TES (ATAR)

Securing Their Future , Aquilina 1997

Principles for New VET

• Principles:– Sufficient variety– Responsive to industrial demand – Contribute to broad education– Relevant beyond narrowly focused occupations– Result in the award of a VET qualification– Clear links to post-school destinations– Collaborative development– Component of structured workplace training

Strategies for New VET

• Remove duplication• All VET courses within a coherent curriculum• VET Framework reflects the State Training Profile• Identify VET components in general education• Enhance contribution to broad education• Identify courses for university entry purposes• Acknowledge links to Key Competencies• Collaborative development

The research

• Researcher• Thesis• Methodology

– Quantitative:• Longitudinal Participation and achievement data (SC, PL and HSC)• Cohort Study (N=23,221) 2006 to 2008 linked to ABS CCD data

– Qualitative:• Phone surveys (ACER):

– students and school leavers (Years 10, 11 and 12) 2009 (N=1565)– their parents or guardians (N = 650) two week after student survey

• Direct email contact survey:– their teachers by school position (N= 1139).

• Approach to this paper and presentation

Excerpts 

Requirements as contained in the Governments ‘white paper’ Securing Their Future”  for Vocational 

Education and Training in Schools in the NSW New HSC

Measures 

Key to major measures:  R  -  Retention;  C  -  Availability and Quality of Curriculum;  A  -  Achievement;  T  -  Transition;  S  -  Satisfaction 

Improved retention R, A, T, S.Rigorous High qualityCoherentRelevantSubject integrityIntegrated pattern of senior studies

C, A. University recognition, employer recognition, status in schoolsAs above; ease of use by teachersC, A, S.C, A, T, S. Progression to employment and further trainingC, A, T, S. Status in schools and communityC, A, S. Patterns of delivery in schools

Recognition: In  national Qualifications By Employers For University entry By post-school VET providers

A, T.A, T. Progression to employment C, A, T. Recognition by universitiesC, A, T. Recognition by post school providers

Non  ‘streaming’  explicitly  or  implicitly,  within  school  or  post school

R, C, A, T, S. Links to SES

Determined Work Placement C, A, S. Structure of provisionOpportunity  to  combine  HSC  study  with  apprenticeships  and traineeships

C, A, T. Number and percentage engagement of school based apprenticeships and traineeships

More coherent and comprehensive curriculum packages C, S. Quality of curriculum structures A consistent framework for each industry area As aboveExpanded range of vocational courses resulting in a TER C, T, S. Historical study of TER

Retention

A significant finding from Evans’s research in 2005 was that greater than six in ten of VET students completing the HSC in 2004 indicated that doing a New HSC VET subject “influenced their decision to stay on at school until Year 12”.

Retention

Retention

Retention

Non-retention (early leaving)

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 201070%

71%

72%

73%

74%

75%

76%

77%

78%

79%

80%

24%

26%

28%

30%

32%

34%

36%

38%

40%

Apparent retention percentage years 10 to 12 and VET enrolment percentage from 2000 to 2010 in NSW Catholic schools 

Student Retention VET Student Percentage

Retention

Retention

“The majority of HSC VET graduates indicated that VET played a role in keeping them at school, this view was strongest among students with lowest level of prior academic achievement and stronger for males than females. These findings endorse the value of VET in schools programs in contributing to the retention of students to Year 12, including those at risk of early leaving.”

(Polesel et al. 2005a, page 7)

Curriculum

“....... vocational education and training (VET) has a poor image and the focus remains on pathways to university rather than on opportunities for pursuing apprenticeships or courses in technical and further education”

(Halliday-Wynes et al. 2008)

Curriculum

Curriculum

Curriculum

On the one hand there are the pressures of a ‘university-oriented’ curriculum and of parents wanting opportunity for their children that for many, they did not have and on the other hand realistic preparation of students for the best possible transition from school (Crump & Stanley 2005).

Socio-economic status and cultural background of the parents are significant factors affecting the advice and ‘pressure’ experienced by the young person. Students from non-English speaking backgrounds are under greater parental pressure to enrol in university pathways (Anelzark et al. 2006).

Curriculum

• In 2012 – 13 Industry Curriculum Framework Courses– ATAR and AQF qualifications

• Comprehensive Schools:– Teacher issues– Timetable issues– Delivery issues

• New VET Curriculum is not attracting New VET Students

Achievement

• If achievement is fulfilling your intentions through effort, NSW is doing well with over 90% of VET students receiving the qualification in which they enrol.

• If achievement is measured by comparison, NSW VETiS is found wanting.

Achievement

VET Course(Framework Courses)

Enrolment Students enrolled in greater than 120 HSC hours

Number Percentage

Hospitality 1813 33 1.8%Construction 766 4 0.5%

Retail Operations* 462 62 13.4%Business Services 766 3 0.4%Primary Industries 90 0 0%Information Technology 473 7 1.4%Metal & Engineering 181 3 1.6%Entertainment Industry 233 0 0% 

All VET (Framework Courses) 4784 112 2.3%

Percentage of students within Board Developed VET Courses (VET Industry Framework Courses) enrolled in greater than 120 hours in the 2008 HSC

Achievement

Comparison of enrolment and achievement for  VETiS students 2008

Measure Australia NSW

Percentage enrolment in VETiS 37.4% 36%

Percentage  of  VETiS  Students  indentured  in 

Traineeship or Apprenticeship 

7.1% 3.9%

Percentage of VET students awarded Certificate 

III or above

10.7% 0.6%

Percentage awarded Certificate II or above 78.8% 63.0%

Achievement

NEW VETiS:• Is shallow on National and International

comparison• Fails to combine with employment and

training pathways• Is not catering well for girls

– even gender split yet girls are ‘crowded’ into 4 of 13 ICFs

Transition

Evans (2005) in his study of NSW VET in schools found that VETiS “gave students a competitive edge over non-VET students in their transition to the labour market”. This position was strongly supported by industry parties consulted in the study and it should be noted that this was also confirmed by the fact that 16 percent of students involved in work placement as part of their New HSC VETiS experience moved from school to take up a job with their work placement employer.

Transition

Employment prospects for early-leaving boys are better than for girls (Teese et al 2007; Polesel & Volkoff 2009) and early-leaving boys are more likely to partake in post-school training due to greater opportunity for boys to access trade apprenticeships (Teese 2000: Teese et al 2007). This finding was confirmed for the NSW Catholic sector from survey data collected in the study.

Transition

Transition

Transition

Transition

“HSC VET graduates consider themselves to be better prepared than non-VET graduates to make an effective transition to work and study, on most measures.”

Research conducted in NSW Government schools by Polesel et al 2005a

Transition

Although Evans (2005) reports a high award rate (76%) for NSW students asking for credit recognition from post-school VET providers, the number of students being assessed for credit transfer is as low as 38 percent for students continuing in the same Training Package after leaving a NSW school and as low as 28.2 percent for all school-delivered VETiS qualifications (Polesel et al. 2005a).

Satisfaction

Although the reasons for enrolling might be many, students in NSW unequivocally endorse the value of their VET in schools subjects and find that New HSC VET markedly influenced their sense of satisfaction and achievement in relation to their post-compulsory schooling.

Also supported in research by others in NSW(Evans 2005, Polesel et al 2005, Helme et al 2005)

Satisfaction

Satisfaction

True or FalseImproved retention MAYBERigorousHigh qualityCoherentRelevantSubject integrityIntegrated pattern of senior studies

MAYBEMAYBETRUETRUEFALSETRUE

Recognition: In  National Qualifications By Employers For University entry By post-school VET providers

TRUEMAYBETRUEFALSE

Non ‘streaming’ explicitly or implicitly, within school or post school FALSE

Determined Work Placement TRUEOpportunity  to  combine  HSC  study  with  apprenticeships  and traineeships

FALSE

More coherent and comprehensive curriculum packages TRUE

A consistent framework for each industry area MAYBEExpanded range of vocational courses resulting in a TER (ATAR) TRUE

Report Card

Conclusion

• The New HSC did spawn new VET but failed to deliver on some of the ‘promises’ and some of the principles as set out in “Securing Their Future” (1997)

Challenges• The New HSC has not resulted in a significant change in the manner in

which VETiS is offered, packaged, valued and celebrated in NSW schools

• New HSC VET is too little, too late for the too many early leavers• New HSC VET must be provided without penalty• NSW needs to address the lack of access to school based Traineeships

and Apprenticeships• At a national level, schools and the VET community must address

perceptions of questionable quality in the delivery of VETiS• The perceived supremacy of the HSC needs to be challenged in NSW• The Breadth of Study requirements of the NSW HSC need further

refining based on research• NSW needs to value alternate student pathways supported by strong

and accurate counselling• NSW schools need to be exploratory, creative and somewhat daring